L. E. Scott is an African American jazz poet, currently based in
Aotearoa/New Zealand. He is on the staff of "Tu Mai", a
magazine for the indigenous people of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Scott has
had a number of books published, the latest being a collection of poems
entitled "Bones", published by Five Islands Press of Melbourne
University, Australia. He has also had work published in two recent
anthologies, "Fingernails Across The Chalkboard" and
"Gwendolyn Brooks and Working Writers", both published by
Third World Press.

Things Are So Random After the Womb
(in the time of George W. Bush)
A nun
dressed in black
taking pictures of the Pope
on his death march
dressed in white
proof of what?
both are childless
moving on beyond God
and his prisoners
at the airport in L.A.
and the Metro in Paris
and in the streets of Madrid
young black men
dancing with brooms
clean, clean, clean everywhere
Ralph Ellison
invisible offspring
Miles
telling you what to kiss
'Birth of the Cool'
blueblack
get back
Picasso
colored his mind with indigo
came back from Afrika
called it
a period of blue
confusion
people walking around in circles
pulling life like human mules
mules who have enslaved
other mules
such rotten teeth
they smile
when speaking of
humanity
in Marrakech
that wondrous city of Morocco
a few steps from the Medina
of gods and snakes
and naked mules
dancing for the money
all is for sale
flesh, flesh
in the Place Djemaa el-Fna
mules with no forehead mark
they have left Mohammed
passing other mules
with the mark of five daily prayers
to the sound of the camel drums
marching the square
bodies of decay
an array of mules
dressed in all kinds of colors
and fetishes
round
and round
and round
the square
they dance
until the dark is no more
raining in the house
September 11
hooves coming from the womb of Islam
will have to be hoof-printed
on landing in Christian-land
verily, verily
I say unto you
you still do not see
why the fire came from the sky
in the belief-land of Mohammed
your deeds have been more
cutting
than the words of Salman Rushdie
after the fire
dressed now
in your red
white
and blue
being led by a mule
crowned
by a supreme court
in another land
their hooves would have been cut off
theft
the war on terrorism
should indeed
start at home
Giuliani
remember the mayor
before the September Fire?
zero tolerance
terrorists dressed
in New York's finest blue
guns and toilet plungers
fighting crime
they pledge allegiance
to the flag
one nation under
hypocrisy
James Baldwin
said
no more water
the fire next time
raining in the world